The health and safety of Chicago’s communities, particularly our most vulnerable residents, is the City’s highest priority. This is why the significant dust emission resulting from the scheduled implosion of the smokestack on the site of the former Crawford Generating Station by Hilco Redevelopment Partners and their subcontractors was completely unacceptable. Since the incident on April 11, 2020 the City of Chicago has responded rapidly and aggressively to remediate the situation, inform and engage residents in the surrounding community and hold the companies accountable.  

On April 15, Mayor Lightfoot issued a letter to Hilco, demanding swift action to clean up the area around the Crawford site, including addressing any deposited dust from the implosion of the Stack.  

Hilco has agreed to or already taken action on the following:  

• Fully cooperate with City of Chicago inquiries for additional information regarding the demolition of the site; 
 
• Conduct private street sweeping from 31st to 33rd, Pulaski Rd. to Lawndale St. following the implosion; 
 
• Work in close coordination with Alderman Michael Rodriguez to drive through the residential streets around the perimeter to assess the damage and begin to compile a list of mitigation needs; 
 
• Reimburse the City of Chicago for additional street sweeping measures; 
 
• Send out personnel door to door to discuss clean up needs with residents, and perform remedial 
services, free of charge, including window and vehicle washing; and 
• Distribute thousands of masks to the community. 
 

We are working to conduct a full review and investigation into this matter and are demanding a detailed description not only of the events that occurred the morning of April 11, 2020, but leading up to that date and immediately following.  

The City is committed to keeping its residents updated on new information related to this incident in the days and weeks to come. As such, we have posted a number of relevant materials here and will continue to update this site as our review moves forward.